STAMFORD — The Hart Elementary School community will gather Wednesday to celebrate the transformation of the school’s front yard from an ordinary patch of weeds and lawn to a vibrant part of the local environment.

The school, in concert with the Audubon Center of Greenwich and the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service, cleared the land over the summer. Working without pesticides, plastic sheets were laid out to scorch away weeds, and native plant species were introduced. The plants - such as milkweed, chokeberry and ironweed - are intended to be used by local animal species as places to rest, live or lay eggs.

“It’s supposed to be a learning space for children and a place to attract native wildlife,” said Susan Christiano, a science teacher at Hart who has been involved in the project. “It’s already starting to happen.”

Christiano said monarch butterflies, for which milkweed is a main food source, had already taken up residence in front of the school. She found 17 monarch caterpillars, two of which had already metamorphosed into butterflies.

“I brought them into the classroom and fed them with milkweed,” she said of the larvae. “This morning I was teaching my fifth graders and one of the chrysalises hatched.”

Her students were very excited, Christiano said. “They’re getting a first-hand look at wildlife. They love it, just to be able to go outside and look.”

Wednesday’s celebration will be attended by representatives from the Audubon Center and Wildlife Service, Mayor David Martin and Superintendent Winifred Hamilton, as well as parents and members of the school community who contributed to the effort.

Christiano said the habitat was the first step in an ongoing project of creating natural learning spaces for students.